July 2, 2025 • 58 mins
We speak with grand marshals Hayden Cohen and Lane Lewis. First, Hayden the Trendsetter grand marshal talks about an organization that they are apart of, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas. Then we speak with Lane Lewis one of three Distinguished Grand Marshals for the 2025 Official Houston Pride Celebration® Finally Brett Cullum speaks with director Domenico Leona about the upcoming production “Pullman, WA” happening at Match Theater in August.
Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here. Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond. Check out our socials at:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody, this is Queer Voices, a podcast
version of a broadcast radioshow that's been on the air in
Houston, texas, for severaldecades.
This week, brian Levinka talkswith Hayden Cohen, co-founder
and state policy director atStudents Engaged in Advancing
Texas.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We've kind of created this massive movement.
Two years ago we had anadvocacy day.
There were maybe 25 students.
This past year we had anadvocacy day in the legislative
session of over 300.
So it kind of goes to show ourgrowth as an organization.
And these were students whomaybe hadn't ever been to the
Capitol before.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Brett Cullum has a conversation with Lane Lewis,
one of the three distinguishedGrand Marshals of this year's
Pride Parade.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Bill Scott.
He was a Houston legend.
In my opinion, he taught methat there were two ingredients
of hope anger and the courage todo something about it.
We're in an area where LGBTrights, particularly trans
rights, are currently beingsystematically dismantled, so
I'm hoping that people will getangry and find courage and Brett
talks with Domenico Leona, theproducer and director of Pullman
(01:15):
Washington, currently runningat the match.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
I'll be passing things out to the audience and
getting them involved.
That, I think, will assist inmaking the play more engaging in
terms of its spectacle, which Ithink will enhance the words
that are already on the page,which are brilliant.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Queer Voices starts now.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
This is Brian Lemicka , and today I'm speaking with
Hayden Cohen, a Grand Marshalfor the 2025 Pride Parade.
Hayden, what is your GrandMarshal title?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I am the trendsetter category, so that is young folks
.
I think it's anyone under theage of 25.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
Tell me about yourself and who you are and
what you do in the community.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I'm currently a student, but in the queer
community I'm very much apolitical advocate.
I work very much in theeducation policy spaces but that
oftentimes collides with LGBTplus related policies.
On the side, I register peopleto vote, I volunteer with the
LGBT plus political caucus andwith a few other LGBT plus
(02:20):
organizations locally andnationally.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
Do you believe that pride is still relevant?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Attacks and harm that the queer community is under
looks different a little bitthan when it did when Stonewall
happened, but we still have somuch hate and the need for the
queer joy and the need tocelebrate and the need to be in
community more so than ever.
So, absolutely, pride is stillrelevant.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Can you tell us about coming out and what was that
process like?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I first came out as gay when I was about 14, coming
into my freshman year of highschool, I came out to my parents
, my family.
They were all pretty chillabout it.
Then, later on, it ended upcoming out as non-binary.
It came out with a differentname and pronouns.
Ironically, I actually used itout in a Smart article to do
(03:13):
that, because I was beinginterviewed for something and I
told them hey, I want to go byHayden in the article and so if
I ever wanted to show that to myparents, I would have to tell
them.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Can you tell me your greatest Pride memory?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Pride happens in many different forms and it's not
necessarily the parade and thefestival.
One of my greatest memories isit's over my birthday, but it
also happened to coincide with aJewish holiday and my friend
and I were making these rainbowtriangle cookies we call them
hamantaschenes for this holiday,purim, and so we decided to
(03:47):
make them rainbow.
After a friend of ours had madetrans flag hamantaschenes, we
shared them with some friendsand that was just really cool
and kind of a really cool likeprideful moment.
But it wasn't necessarily afestival parade.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
This isn't necessarily Houston-related
pride memory.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
This happened in New Jersey.
When did you move to Houston?
Speaker 5 (04:12):
No, I've lived in Houston my entire life.
I went on a trip with a friend.
Is there anything that you wantour listeners to know that you
have not told us?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Mention something that I mentioned at the Grand
Marshal reception last weekend,and something really unique
about this category of GrandMarshal is that we do just as
much work as the other GrandMarshals.
We're just as much of badassesand we put in the time, for sure
.
But the thing that makes usreally unique is we've got
homework at home after everyevent and we're still very much
(04:41):
in school and dealing witheverything that young people go
through as growing up because weare younger.
But it also shows that we'vedone a lot in the few years that
we've been around and in queerspaces and in political spaces.
So it's really cool to kind ofhave that equivalent, so an
honor, even though I haven'tbeen doing this for 20 something
years.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
Are there any social media things that you want to
promote?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I use Instagram most, and then, obviously, I'm the
state policy director of anincredible organization called
Students Engaged in AdvancingTexas.
Our handle on Instagram is atstudentsengagetx.
We do post a lot.
We have a lot of coolopportunities, cool things that
are going on.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
Tell me about that organization.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Students Engaged in Advancing Texas was founded by
myself and another student.
We focus on policy issuesaffecting students and bringing
students into those spaces totalk with their lawmakers and to
talk with the people who aredeciding these decisions about
education, because oftentimesyoung people are left out of
those conversations.
We've kind of created thismassive movement.
(05:48):
Two years ago we had anadvocacy day.
There were maybe 25 students.
This past year we had anadvocacy day in the legislative
session of over 300.
So it kind of goes to show ourgrowth as an organization and
these were students who maybehadn't ever been to the Capitol
before, hadn't ever met theirlawmakers before, and now got
(06:08):
the opportunity to speak totheir staff and share about
different priorities studentshave in the session.
Oftentimes students areoverlooked in terms of their
opinion around what's going on,but frankly, they're the primary
stakeholders when it comes toour education.
We're kind of bridging that gapand showing that students can
actually have a voice and we'rehelping them do it.
It's such a cool part of my jobwhen I get to bring young
(06:33):
people to the Capitol for thefirst time or show them
lawmakers or introduce them tosome of our incredible coalition
partners and we really get intothe nitty-gritty of policy.
I think this past weekend wehad some folks over at the AFT
event in Dallas.
We do all sorts of eventslocally and then some big stuff
in Austin sometimes.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Is that LGBT-focused or is it kind of across the
board?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
It's not explicitly.
We very much focus oneducational issues broadly.
However, there is a lot ofoverlap that we see with making
sure students can testifyagainst their gender impact,
queer students or vice versa,and pushing for good policy in
schools.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
What is your advice to people that are coming to the
Capitol for the first time forthe legislative session?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
It depends what you're coming for.
If you are coming for anadvocacy day, absolutely enjoy
it.
Soak in every moment, speak toyour lawmakers, be passionate,
tell your personal stories forsure.
If you are coming to testifywhich I often did and I would
bring students to testify withme be prepared to not know where
you need to be and what youneed to be doing at all times,
(07:58):
because the legislature is sounpredictable.
You don't know when your billis going to come up, what room
you're going to be in, who'sgoing to be in the committee
room at that time.
You don't know anything, and soyou just have to be prepared
for whatever, and always greatto find a buddy who's done this
before, who's testified before,and there are so many great
(08:20):
organizations that will show up,especially for the bigger
hearings.
You just follow them.
They'll feed you, they'll makesure you've got water, they'll
tell you everything you need toknow about testifying.
But don't do this stuff alone.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
For sure, we're speaking with Hayden Cohen, the
trendsetter grand marshal forthe 2025 Pride Parade.
No-transcript.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Awesome, thank you so much, Brian.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Coming up on Queer Voices Lane Lewis, one of this
year's distinguished grandmarshals, and Domenico Leona,
the producer and director of theplay Pullman Washington.
We also have news wrap fromthis Way Out.
News Wrap from this way out.
(09:07):
Did you know that KPFT iscompletely listener-funded?
There are no underwriters, soit's up to all of us to pay for
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That means you participate inour programming just by
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(09:30):
Please do that now by going tothe KPFT website and clicking on
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you do.
Speaker 6 (09:42):
Thank you when you do .
Thank you.
I am Brett Cullum and today Iam joined by 2025's
distinguished Grand Marshal Lane.
Lewis Lane has basically helpedwrite LGBTQI plus history
because he is a longtimeorganizer.
Former Harris County DemocraticParty chair Lane played a
(10:03):
pivotal role in bringingLawrence versus Texas to the
United States Supreme Court.
He has been a social worker.
He's founded a youth center.
He's worked in a psychiatrichospital.
Bless him for that.
He has a master's in teaching.
Lane was an appointee of MayorBob Lanier, mayor Lee Brown and
Mayor Bill White.
He's been an advisor to theHouston Police Department for
(10:23):
over two decades on the PoliceAdvisory Committee.
He's been an advisor to theHouston Police Department for
over two decades on the PoliceAdvisory Committee.
He's been on the Citizen ReviewCommittee, the Administrative
Discipline Committee and thePolice Academy and when I met
him he was fighting City Hallwhen they wanted to close down
access to all ages clubs, likeNumbers back in the.
Okay, I'm not going to claim orname this year at all, but
(10:43):
welcome Wayne Lewis.
Thank you so much.
You've done so much that I'mexhausted.
Going to claim or name thisyear at all, but welcome Wayne.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Lewis, thank you so much.
You've done so much that I'mexhausted reading about it.
I think that was 1987.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
Yeah, no, I didn't even want to go there, I didn't
want to date us.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
that bad, but yeah.
And recently there's a group ofpeople out of LA that's working
on a documentary on some of thestuff that I've done and they
found a video, I think, fromChannel 11.
I've seen it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're theones that sent it to me.
I don't know how they got it.
Speaker 6 (11:18):
It was in the Numbers documentary, though, wasn't it?
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah, I sent it to.
Well, was it Marcus?
Fine, I guess maybe Marcus isthe one that it was not the Los
Angeles guy.
It was Marcus that found thatand sent to me and said is this
you?
And I was like holy cow.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
For all the listeners that are like going what is
going on here?
Numbers had a documentarycalled Friday I'm in Love.
Marcus Pantillo made thisincredible documentary about
numbers and included footage ofLane Lewis fighting to keep
numbers all ages and the late80s for that, and that just was
kind of the beginning of youractivism.
I mean, I really feel like thatwas where you kind of came on
the scene and everything andyou've done so much and it's
(11:55):
just crazy when I look at howmuch you've done in your
lifetime and how many timesyou've shifted and how many
times you've, like, changedcareers and done all of this, I
mean it's like there was noclear path, for Lane was there.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
No, and I'm sure it kept my mother up many a night.
I was sort of on the cusp.
What was it?
The death of a salesman.
You know, you get a good joband you do it for 40 years and
then you retire and die.
I was much more of arenaissance attitude.
I wanted to do, and I would doit for five, six, seven years
and then I would get bored andI'd be like you know what, what
do I want to do next?
(12:28):
Some things were planned.
I bartended and managed anightclub.
I was a DJ back in the 80s.
That was my first career, Iguess you could say, working at
NRG and places.
Then I came back from New York.
I was working on Stonewall 25.
I had started as the youthconstituent.
For that it was aninternational march on the
(12:48):
United Nations calling for queerequality across the world,
celebrating the 25th anniversaryof Stonewall.
I started off as a youthconstituent, as the youth
constituent, as if this white,gay male represented all queer
youth in the world.
But anyway, I was the one thatshowed up, so I got the job.
Then, from there I went on tobecome the head of the direct
action working group and endedup on the executive committee.
(13:08):
So anyway, I had to move to NewYork.
The result of that when I cameback, I needed a job.
I had no job.
So I went to Jay Allen atPacific Street, said you know,
hey, I need a job.
You've helped me withfundraisers and stuff in the
past.
Would you help me out with ajob?
He said you know how to bartend.
I said no, actually I do notknow how to bartend, but give me
your worst bar, I'll make ityour best within a couple of
(13:31):
months or you can fire me.
I ended up working there forabout six or seven years.
I just figured it out.
I can't think of a single jobthat I've ever had that I knew
what the hell I was doing beforeI got it you're just the guy
that kind of adapts to that.
Speaker 6 (13:45):
So, going back to 2025, distinguished brand
marshal, what does that mean toyou?
I mean, what kind of honor isthis?
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Things like this obviously bring recognition to
an individual's past and currentdeeds.
I reckon it also emboldens youto move forward and do more
right.
It gives you credentials to domore.
But what I'm really hoping notso much what it does for me, but
I'm hoping others will see andread about the things that we
(14:14):
have fought for and howdifficult they were to achieve.
It gives them hope.
Better yet, it gets them active, right that they want to do
these things as well,particularly in today's climate
where we are losing rights,certainly faster than we're
getting them, and these oldfights that we thought we were
done with right, roe v Wade andmarriage equality.
(14:36):
We thought we were done withall this.
We are not.
We are going to have to fightthem again, most likely Bill
Scott he was a Houston legend,in my opinion.
He taught me that there weretwo ingredients of hope anger
and the courage to do somethingabout it.
We're in an area where LGBTrights, particularly trans
rights, are currently beingsystematically dismantled, so
(14:57):
I'm hoping that people will getangry and find courage.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
I remember back in the 80s, early 90s, things like
that, when we were kind ofcoming up, these fights were
going and I do have this deja vufeeling of here it goes again.
I thought we were good, Ithought that the generation
behind us was in good shape andit looked like everything was
going as planned and then all ofa sudden, here's this wave
coming right back and I guessit's that pendulum swing that
(15:24):
always seems to happen inhistory.
So this is a really crucialyear for Pride.
Do you remember like yourearliest Pride or like when you
got involved with Pride?
I mean, obviously you mentionedthat you were involved with
Stonewall at one point in the25th anniversary and things like
that.
So I imagine you've got somegood stories.
Do you remember the early daysof the Houston Pride Parade or
anything like that?
Speaker 3 (15:43):
I honestly I do not.
I don't remember when theHouston Pride Parade or?
Speaker 6 (15:44):
anything like that.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Honestly, I do not.
I don't remember when the firstPride Parade was.
The New York Pride may havebeen before I ever went to a
Houston Pride.
To be honest, I was never onemuch for parades.
I was more interested in marchesand there is a difference, and
I'll tell you.
During Stonewall we had many adebate on whether or not it was
(16:08):
going to be a march or a parade.
The Heritage Foundation, Ithink, is what the New York
Pride was or is called, used tobe called, and they very much
wanted a parade, and me and manyothers on the committee said no
, we're marching for rights.
This isn't a fashion contestfor rights.
But the argument that reallywon the day for us was when we
(16:31):
put forth the argument that,well, you're going to call it an
international march.
I'm wondering how many peoplefrom oh, I don't know
Johannesburg is going to be ableto build a float when they get
here.
So now you have these peoplefrom New York that have these
big, beautiful floats or whathave you, and then you have all
these other countries that havenothing, just rigged of
(16:51):
privilege.
Ultimately, we banned floatsand motor vehicles from
Stonewall.
I guess probably the first realpride events that I remember
being in were probably in themid-'90s, either with riches or
on top of Pacific Street'sfloats, advertising for the bars
and stuff.
Speaker 6 (17:10):
Well, and we're back there too this year.
I think I've heard a lot ofcorporate sponsors are pulling
out because of the currentadministration and the stance on
DEI in Texas.
So we may be right back to thatkind of a thing where there's
not a ton of floats, there arebars and us and community
organizations.
So kind of a thing wherethere's not a ton of floats,
there are bars and us andcommunity organizations.
So kind of a wild time to bringyou up to the head of the
(17:31):
parade, to march forward andbring us back into this era, I
guess and I've been hearingrumblings nationwide within
pride organizations that manyare looking to downgrade the
parade image a march image.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
particularly in these times I think that would not be
a bad idea.
Speaker 6 (17:55):
I think that we need that kind of anger because of
what's happening to ourcommunity, and I think that that
would be a very importantcomponent of this year's
celebration Because, as youobserved, I mean, the trans
rights in Texas are just insevere jeopardy and we all know
that if they don't win thatfight, who's next?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
And I can remember years back in the late 80s,
early 90s, where that was a bigdiscussion because the majority
of what you saw within the gaycommunity was the white male.
So some of us who were whitemales were really really pushing
for a more inclusive image andconversation around those that
(18:35):
did not fit the white male imageand there was pushback.
I was there for it.
I remember some very heatedarguments within local
organizations and nationalorganizations where that was not
a very popular opinion.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
Well, let's be honest , though.
I still hear some of thesearguments going on today, which
I think is a real shame.
I think that we've come so farand we have this community and
we have this chance to reallychampion it for everybody.
It's not time for us to kind ofpull back?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I've always believed that if you're at the top of the
ladder, you reach down and grabthe very lowest rung and pull
them up, because everybodybetween you and them will come
up with it.
Speaker 6 (19:17):
How do you think that pride is relevant now, because
it's certainly changing a littlebit.
It's certainly not, like yousaid, the fashion show.
I mean it's definitely.
It's making statements a littlebit.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Well, you know, it's a bell curve, it's a march for
recognition, and then youfinally begin achieving those
recognitions and then it becomesmore of a festival or
celebration.
My concern is that far too manypeople think that we are in
celebration mode, and that isnot the era that we are in
celebration mode and that is notthe era that we are in, and a
(19:47):
large part of it.
Let's talk about the thingsthat created a need for
celebration.
You had PrEP come along, whichrevolutionized a lot of lives,
because throughout the 80s and90s it was HIV, AIDS, death
sentence.
And PrEP comes along andchanges those dynamics AIDS,
death sentence.
Then PrEP comes along andchanges those dynamics.
(20:07):
Lawrence v, Texas.
The legalization of sodomy andthus the legalization of
queerness in general.
And you had marriage equality.
You had Ellen, you had Will andGrace.
These are things that prior tothe mid-90s I guess somewhere
around in there you didn't have.
So there was a reason forcelebrating.
I'm not sure around in thereyou didn't have.
So there was a reason forcelebrating.
I'm not sure we're there rightnow.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Well, ironically though, the theme this year is
celebration is our legacy, sowe've got that in there, but it
is definitely going to be apointed celebration.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
And I hope so.
Definitely there's things tostill celebrate, but if we're
not careful, celebration will belegacy, not reality.
Speaker 6 (20:50):
Very well said.
Yeah, that makes senseAbsolutely.
So what would you say yournumber one achievement for the
queer community is?
I mean, you've done so muchthat I would be really
hard-pressed to do that.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
You're very kind, do that.
You're very kind.
Probably Lawrence v Texascertainly made the biggest
impact to the most people.
Without Lawrence v Texas therewould be no employment
guarantees, there would be nomarriage equality.
I mean, none of that happenswithout 2106 and Lawrence v
Texas.
So that's probably what I'vemade the most impact for.
What am I most proud of?
(21:25):
It would probably be the youthcenter in the early 90s Lewis
Scott Youth Center, me and BillScott, which eventually became
Hippie with Tracy Brown HoustonInstitute for Protection of
Youth.
We were at that time, as far asI know, the only residential
treatment facility for queerhomeless kids and this was back
in 91, 92, something like that.
Also, there was different timesin the homeless and out of
(21:50):
touch now.
So I don't really know what thehomeless statistics are now.
Back then I think it was 50 to60% of all homeless kids were bi
or gay, transgender.
I don't know what that stat isnow.
I would think it would be less,but I don't know that to be
true.
But the other statistic that Iremember back then that was so
alarming that really is the onethat got my attention was a
(22:13):
national study that said thatwithin 14 days of being on the
street a child was on drugs,prostituting, hiv positive or
some combination of the three.
It was so alarming to me thatyou had a two-week window.
Now, granted, I was only about21 or 22 at the time, so I
wasn't that old, but thatstatistic just shook me to my
(22:36):
core.
And I had gone to a black tiedinner for the Gay and Lesbian
Political Caucus now the LGBTQPolitical Caucus but at that
time there was no HRC Black TideDinner, not here in Houston
anyway.
It was the Political Caucus'sBlack Tide Dinner, and Bill
Scott, like I said, was thekeynote speaker that year and he
(22:56):
had helped start all thesevarious organizations AIDS
Foundation, montrose CounselingCenter, body Positive, montrose
Clinic, now Legacy and otherthings.
But he said we don't haveanything for the aging and we
don't have anything for youth.
And he said before I die, Ihope to get those going.
So afterwards I walked up and Ishared the statistic and I
asked him well, why don't wehave anything for the aging and
(23:18):
the youth?
And he said the aging is simple.
Most of them are dead.
We don't have an aging gaypopulation.
They didn't survive the 80s and90s which holy cow.
He was right on that.
But fortunately now we do havean aging community and the
counseling center a few yearsago opened up a quote unquote
retirement facility for ouraging population.
(23:38):
Which fan-freaking-tastic isthat.
And on the youth side he saidwell, there's no youth services
because of internalizedhomophobia.
And I asked him to explain whathe meant by that.
And he said people don't wantto provide services to young
queers because internalizedhomophobia.
We're afraid of what we will beaccused of by treating that
(23:59):
population.
I said, well, it doesn't scareme, I'll do it if you'll do it.
And he said okay, said let'sget together and talk about it.
Within six months I think I'dgone to Mickey Rosemary who owns
Tootsies.
He gave me my first $25,000check to open up that youth
center.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Well, here's a sobering statistic the current
population of homeless youth inthe United States that identify
as LGBTQIA, plus 40%.
So we've dropped it 10 sincethe 90s, but that's not a lot
when you think about it.
It's still 40% identify as apart of our community and
certainly a lot of work stillneeds to be done.
(24:38):
And, of course, law Harrington,one of our own hosts on the
show, lives there.
So shout out to Deborah Bell,that's her address right now.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
I really wish bill had been alive to see that an
amazing, amazing accomplishmentthere.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
Thank you for all that you've done and
congratulations on being 2025.
Distinguished grand marshal,did you ever think that you were
being called distinguished?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
no, after living through the 80 and 90s I never
figured I'd live old enough tobe distinguished anything, but
somehow I survived, knocked onwood.
Somebody walked up to me on thedance floor last weekend and
said so do I now have to callyou the Honorable Distinguished
County?
I don't know.
It was this long, long title ofthings I have done.
(25:25):
I can just call me Lane.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
That's what I've always known you as, from the
days of energy and numbers andthings like that.
Well, thank you.
It was great to go down memorylane with you and talk about all
of the stuff that you've done.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
I'm looking to see.
I think we just had a recentanniversary of Lawrence v Texas,
didn't we?
Or we have it coming up.
Let me look, because peopleforget that it's only been.
Oh, it's June 26th.
Is the anniversary June 26th?
Speaker 6 (25:54):
Pretty close, I mean, and that was like 2003,.
So I remember that pride ofcelebration, because that was a
big one.
We were suddenly legal.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Listeners need to remember that prior to 2003, you
were not a legal individual.
Speaker 6 (26:08):
No, you could be criminal, it was criminal.
It was a little more punk rockto be criminal.
But hey, I will take the rightsPlease.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
They get a chance, tell them to go watch that
numbers documentary that RiverOaks Theater shows it every now
and then.
It's well worth their time.
People need to understand thatnumbers.
At a time when we had nomeeting place, we could not meet
and organize, there was noplace to sit and talk about
queer rights or HIV rights, andnumbers opened its dance floor.
(26:38):
How to organize us to meetthere?
So they need to understandtheir history on that too.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
And still the owner was there for that.
Shout out to Numbers and theirwonderful documentary Friday I'm
in Love.
And shout out to Lane Lewis,2025's distinguished Grand
Marshal.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Part of our Queer Voices community listens on KPFT
, which is a nonprofit communityradio station, and as such,
kpft does not endorse or holdany standing on matters of
politics.
If you would like Equal Airtimeto represent an alternative
point of view, please contact usthrough kpftorg or our own
(27:18):
website at queervoicesorg.
This is Queer Voices.
This is Queer Voices.
This is KPFT.
90.1 FM Houston, 89.5 FMGalveston, 91.9 FM Huntsville,
and worldwide on the internet atkpftorg.
Speaker 8 (27:44):
The night is long and the path is dark.
Look to the sky for what it'scalled.
The dawn will come.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
This is Queer Voices.
Speaker 6 (28:04):
Pullman Washington is a play from acclaimed American
playwright Yong-Ching Lee.
The Phoenix Group is producingthis regional premiere, which
will run at the Match, august14th through the 17th.
This is a play about what to doif you're unhappy and everyone
around you is kind of a well ana-hole, including yourself, of
course.
Certainly a really great idea,just in that cinema alone.
(28:26):
And joining me today isdirector Domenico Leona.
Hey there, domenico, hello, hey.
Okay, so tell me about thisplay, pullman Washington.
What is it about?
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Okay.
Okay, you know it's funnybecause you look at young Jean
Lee and kind of her history inplaywriting and in music and you
probably liken it to theobscure.
But I actually think that thisplay, while maybe obscure in
execution, is actually verysimple.
So three ordinary people try todeliver this life-changing TED
(28:59):
talk and address an audiencedirectly and tell them how they
should live their lives.
And as they attempt to do thisand usually fail, they kind of
get into these hijinks wherethis, what starts off as this
well well-intentioned self-helpseminar, kind of becomes this
brutal disintegration of all oftheir egos and the way they live
(29:22):
their own lives.
And it kind of acts as acommentary on like how people
who try and influence us oftendon't always have their own
lives together and hilarityensues from there.
Would you call it more of acomedy?
Very much so.
I would call it a comedy.
It's a romp If I can share thestory of kind of how it came to
be.
So I was sitting at the recrooms Happy Hour Readings.
(29:44):
Happy Hour Readings is thesister company at the rec room
run by Brenda Palestina and EmmaBacon, who hold a reading of a
play the first Monday of everymonth and they did Pullman
Washington, which was, I believe, headed by Alan Kim at the time
.
This play burned through in 75minutes.
It's absolutely hilarious.
It goes to such bizarre lengths.
(30:05):
One of the characters isobsessed with mermaids and
unicorns and making everybodyfeel optimistic whenever they're
down.
One of them acts as sort ofthis, like he has the candor of
an evangelical pastor, and thenone of them is just trying to
kind of deliver a TED talk,trying to seem educated and
consistently failing to get herpoint across.
And whenever we're watchingthis, I mean we're all just
(30:31):
cracking up and the play endsand we're all kind of like what
was that?
But then these questions startarising of, like the characters,
as societal pressures and howlike the play almost felt like
we were inside three people'sminds or that we were in three
different aspects of someone'sown mind, and that was really
interesting to me.
Then we start delving into likepolitics and society and you
(30:53):
know the election at the time,and it just it was very
interesting to me that a playthat is essentially three people
just talking about how do welive our lives moved people on a
very human level, especiallywhen it's absurd and bizarre as
a very human level, especiallywhen it's absurd and bizarre, as
this one is, and especiallywhen it's entertaining.
And I think that all derivesfrom the fact that it's more
relevant now than ever this playwas written in 2002, but it's
(31:17):
more relevant now than ever thatthree people from three
completely different generations, backgrounds, can all ask the
same question how do I live mylife, how should I, how should
you?
And let me tell you how to liveyour life.
And I think that that just kindof struck a lot of people in
that room and that kind of ledto me producing it.
Well, tell me about the Phoenix.
Speaker 6 (31:37):
Group because I don't not familiar with you guys yet.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Yeah, yeah, no, this is our.
This is our inauguralproduction.
We made a joke whenever we kindof first brought this together
we being me and my good friend,Josh Harris, who's an incredible
.
He's in a lot of improv comedy.
He went to SFA and has donesome great work around the state
and this will be his firstproduction in Houston.
He's going to be playing therole of himself in this play,
(32:03):
because I hadn't mentioned thenames of the characters in this
play.
Always I hadn't mentioned thenames of the characters in this
play.
Always in every productioncarry the names of the actors,
which is another interestingaspect of it.
But, yeah, the phoenix group wasessentially like recidivistic
buffoonery, that is, the attackon the arts.
Currently, you look at theissues with you know the kennedy
center and what's going on inthe current administration and
(32:25):
and rather than like forming anew company to have like a
specific mission, I really justI love theater.
The people that are workingwith me on this love theater and
we just want to be a part ofthe reason that there's a little
bit more out there.
I wish I could give you thiselegant response that, oh, the
Phoenix Group is representation,in its title alone, of theater
is transient, but it has apermanence to it.
(32:49):
It stays in us and a phoenixcan be reborn.
In reality, it's just namedafter my niece.
Speaker 6 (32:54):
Oh, no, Well, that's not a bad place to gather
inspiration from your niece.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Yeah, very much.
I wholeheartedly agree withthat.
Speaker 6 (33:03):
She's called Phoenix.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
That's her name.
She's called Phoenix.
Her name, her name.
She's called Phoenix.
Her name is Phoenix ArayaSunshine Reynolds.
Speaker 6 (33:09):
Wow.
Well, she sounds like she'sgoing to be theatrical anyway,
just given that kind of a name.
So there you are.
I'm definitely counting on it.
Yeah, well, and you've actuallywielded in a power by naming
your group after her.
But this is a pretty easy playto set up, but from what I
gather, I mean three people, Notreally a huge set or anything.
I mean I think you just havesome whiteboards or presentation
(33:31):
materials for the self-helpseminar.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Yeah, that's correct.
There is a specific aspect ofthe play that's really, really
intriguing and that is thepresence of something in the
script called the giving up area, which is an area where
characters go whenever they'vegiven up, as in the script.
So whenever I watched aproduction of this because,
(34:05):
going back to whenever we wereat the happy hour readings
something that came up that wasreally striking to me was we
discussed almost immediatelyafter the play ended like who
would produce this in Houston?
And the room kind of a roomthat was very vibrant and, you
know, filled with laughter justmoments before kind of deflated
a little bit and things werebrought up like oh you know,
catastrophic in the rec room andthere was a little bit of like
reticence from people in theroom that worked with that
company.
Talk about it.
And I kind of went from that andwas like well, why does it have
(34:27):
to be a theater that's alreadyexisting?
Why can't anyone do this play,especially with the setup that
you just described?
It is very simple and I wentand saw the taping on Young Jean
Lee's website of the originalproduction at PS122 in
Washington and I saw that it wasjust three actors standing on a
bare stage, street clothes,talking, and it was completely
different from how I envisionedit, both in energy and in
(34:50):
presentation, and so I think areal challenge for me or not
necessarily a challenge, butsomething that's motivating and
enticing is taking a play thatis bare stage and how do we add
strokes of color onto thatcanvas.
And so I have some ideas forthe giving up area for some
scenes that involve a whiteboard.
(35:11):
I'll be passing things out tothe audience and getting them
involved.
That, I think, will assist inmaking the play more engaging in
terms of its spectacle, which Ithink will enhance the words
that are already on the page,which are brilliant.
Speaker 6 (35:24):
Well, you're directing this one and you have
some help from a woman namedAshley Galan.
Okay, I didn't want to butcherher last name.
I was looking at it goingAshley, I can get, but Galan,
I'm never quite sure.
How did you get together withAshley?
I mean, how do you two knoweach other?
Speaker 4 (35:46):
Oh man, me and Ashley go way back.
So Ashley's a vet.
She's been in the Houston scenefor a long time.
She's acted with, you know,theatrics for their Javier
Descortes Festival.
She house manages and stagemanages all over town.
She just stage managed Kim'sConvenience over at Main Street
Theater.
Whenever I met her, most of myinteractions in Houston tend to
(36:07):
be, you know, incrediblypleasant and I've found this
city to be at least thiscommunity, that being theater to
be very polite and welcoming tothe point of like.
Whenever I've shared scriptsthat I've written or I've, you
know, done auditions, I feltlike everything I get is so, so
positive and encouraging.
But with Ashley there wassomething interesting.
When we first met, we had onelong discussion about theater
(36:31):
and she pretty much disagreedwith everything I had to say and
had just eloquent, educatedreasoning for, like, why she was
disagreeing with me so much.
And I remember my impressionworking with her was just that
this is someone who would neversugarcoat anything and would
keep me, you know, in check, soto speak, especially coming into
it.
My impression working with herwas just that this is someone
who would never sugarcoatanything and would keep me, you
know, in check, so to speak,especially coming into.
I come from a poetry background.
(36:52):
This is the first time I'veever directed on stage.
I just wanted someone with thatkind of strong, singular,
unique voice to come onto thisproduction.
I think, especially with thethe broadness of the play, that
these characters are asking suchan open-ended question how do
you live, I think, having theperspective of not only a woman
on our set but a woman of color?
(37:13):
There are two women in theproduction and I always seek to
bring, from as many diversebackgrounds as I can, anyone
into my team because I want asmuch perspective as I can
possibly get going into a playlike this.
And so I think, to answer yourquestion, yeah, it's just to get
a better perspective fromsomeone that, in my opinion, is
much smarter than I am.
Speaker 6 (37:33):
Your first play and you pick a play by Young Jean
Lee.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 6 (37:39):
Just jump right in there into the fire, just don't
even warm it up.
Go, let's swing big.
But what made you want to enterthis fray?
I mean, you obviously have apoetry background and things
like that and I've seen youaround a mainstream theater and
things like that but what madeyou want to direct and produce
and all of that?
I mean it was just uh man withwith this play it's.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
It's so interesting because I I never thought I
would go into directing ordesigning anything.
I've worked as an actor andpoetry.
I enjoy having full controlover what I'm writing and
performing.
I perform regularly at AvantGarden and places like that and
that's a community that's verysimilar to theater in Houston
and it's kind of welcomingnature, but it is also just
(38:26):
bustling with so much creativityand so many voices.
And the more I got involvedwith Houston theater and the
more I got involved inparticular with, like the rec
room happy hour readings, I kindof felt myself getting the itch
to create something.
But I think the big thing thathappened to me was I heard
someone talking about poetryversus a novel.
They were saying well, you know, a novel is like riding a
(38:48):
bicycle.
You have to ride your bicycleand you have to stay in your
lane.
You have to stay on the trail,Otherwise you'll get hit by a
car, but poetry is like walkingon the moon.
And while it's a lovelysentiment and has great syntax,
I strongly disagree.
I think whenever you're workingon a sonnet or a poem, there
are things, whenever you'relooking at it, that says, oh,
(39:11):
these are rules, the 16 lines ina sonnet, the rhyme scheme, the
5-7-5 nature of a haiku, andthen you go to college and a
college professor says, oh,these aren't rules, they're
guidelines.
And then I look at my owncreative life, moving here to
Houston, and I've learned thatin poetry it's really more
conditions.
And what is the reason forthose conditions?
(39:33):
Why do you have to work withinthose 16 lines, within that
5-7-5 parameter?
And it's because conditionslike that force the innovation
to come from inward, if thatmakes any sense, and I don't
think that a play is anydifferent to that.
I have a certain number ofpages and words that only exist
(39:53):
on the page and I can't gooutside of that.
And there's room for improv,but it's set in stone.
And I have to take thisproduction that's never been
done in Houston and createsomething that relates not only
to people in general but peoplefrom Houston.
And I think finding creativesolutions to that problem is
(40:14):
what enticed me into directing.
Trying to prove that directingis no different to poetry and it
is also just as freeing aswalking on the moon, I think,
was what really pushed me tothis one in particular.
Speaker 6 (40:25):
What I extracted from that particularly was
creatively solving problems.
I think that that, more thananything, encapsulates what I
see with the companies thatyou've mentioned before Rec Room
Arts, catastrophic Theater,even like Dirt Dogs or Main
Street Theater or even the Alley.
I mean, they are giving theseparameters of a script and
(40:46):
trying to figure out how do wepresent this in a way that is
expressive and that representswhat we want to get out of it
and everything like that.
So in that sense, I can see thepoetry thing and it tracks, I
guess, and so I can see that.
So it'll be interesting.
I'm talking with Domenico Leona,who is with the Phoenix Group,
and of course they are producingPullman Washington, young Jean
(41:07):
Lee work and it's going to be atthe Match August 14th through
the 17th, and you are kind ofgoing for like a Catastrophic
Theater, pay what you Can, kindof model right for the tickets,
absolutely.
And you even got Free BeerFriday, yeah, that's true.
So that is definitely one ofthose things where you get to
pick your ticket price.
(41:28):
Of course, as I mentioned foryour friday, you're gonna have a
talk back on saturday with thecreative team, correct all of
that.
So that's, that's amazing.
You got a lot packed into oneweekend for sure what are your
plans after this?
do you have anything?
Is this like a one and donething for you?
Are you you going to keepproducing?
Speaker 4 (41:48):
You know I don't think I've ever closed the book
on anything in my life.
You know, like going frompoetry, you know I've directed
little short films here andthere and I haven't directed a
film in four years but I'd neverclosed the book on that.
So, especially in theater justclosed the Three Musketeers as
an actor on Monday, I plan toact in plays and direct in plays
(42:11):
at any level for theforeseeable future.
I think the big thing for mestaying in this community is
that I intend to be in Houston along time and I truly believe
that this city is a couple years, if a year, away from a huge
renaissance in the arts where alot of new voices are going to
get heard and a lot of new workis going to move people.
(42:33):
You know, to come back to thetheater, despite, you know,
theater maybe not recovering aswell as something like, you know
, streaming services did postpost pandemic, yeah, no, I would
never close the book ondirecting another play.
I have some in mind that I wouldlove to do, but I'm seeing how
this one goes, you know, seeingif I can, you know, make enough
(42:54):
incentives like a Free BeerFriday, a Talkback, a marketing
campaign which starts tomorrowwhere I'll be putting out videos
about the production of theplay and behind-the-scenes stuff
, interviews with my cast.
I want to see how many people Ican get in the door and if the
city of Houston decides thatthey want to see more of the
Phoenix Group, then they willabsolutely have the opportunity
(43:14):
to support that and I will pushforward and do more and, like I
said, I can always throw outthat.
Oh well, a Phoenix never dies,so who knows?
Speaker 6 (43:27):
Five years pass.
I'll be like the Phoenix Groupis back.
You know it's perfectly namedas far as like returning again
and again and again from theashes.
But you picked a good time.
The summer is a little bit of adearth as far as a theater goes
.
Most of our professionaltheaters run their seasons from
September to May.
So really, this is a reallysmart time to do it.
So really, this is a reallysmart time to do it, and
offering beer on a Friday inAugust not a bad move.
(43:51):
So there you are.
Well, I certainly wish you allthe success.
Pullman Washington is the play,obviously at the match one
weekend, kind of Thursday August14th through Sunday August 17th
.
Tickets are, of course,available through the Match
website and they are paying whatyou can, which is always an
amazing way to go.
It really lets people put theirown price on it, which I think
(44:14):
is really cool.
I think that it's one of thosethings where you really but of
course, suggested rate $30,which is pretty cheap for a
production here in Houston,especially one that sounds like
it's going to be as much fun asthis one, because I'm certainly
signing up for any self-helpgroup that goes wrong.
Oh yes, there I could probablyconduct a few yeah.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
I'm banking on it myself.
Speaker 6 (44:40):
Maybe that's what we can do afterwards.
The Phoenix Group, you and I,we can just do self-help groups.
Speaker 4 (44:44):
Yeah, we can just do self-help seminars that go wrong
they do afterwards the phoenixgroup.
Speaker 6 (44:52):
You and I, we can just do self-help groups.
Yeah, we just do self-helpseminars that go wrong.
They're like I really likedthat format, like, yeah, all
right, we'll just have thepermanent giving up space for us
, so it's fine.
Yeah, all right, dominico,thank you so much and I wish you
all the best and hopefully,when I talk to you again, we're
talking about the next projectfor the Phoenix Group and about
how your niece is a successfulactress at a very young age.
Speaker 10 (45:09):
I'm Melanie Keller and I'm Natalie Munoz With Muse
Rap.
A summary of some of the newsthat are affecting LGBTQ
communities around the world forthe week ending June 29, 2025.
Hungarians and visitors fromaround the world turned out by
(45:37):
the thousands in defiance ofPrime Minister Viktor Orban to
march in Budapest's LGBTQ PrideParade.
Budapest Pride PresidentVictoria Rodvini told Agence
France-Presse we believe thereare 180,000 to 200,000 people
attending the record-breakingbut low-key throng marched on
June 28 from Budapest City Hallthrough the city center before
(46:00):
crossing the capital's UrzabetBridge over the Danube River.
The autocratic prime minister'sgoverning party ran the law
through parliament in March thatmakes it an offense to hold or
attend events that depict orpromote homosexuality to minors
aged under 18.
Orban later acknowledged thatBudapest pride was the intended
(46:21):
target.
Authorities threatened ahead ofthe march to use facial
recognition software to identifyparade-goers and punish them
with fines of up to 200,000forints, that's about 586 US
dollars.
If charged, event organizersface up to a year in prison.
Dozens of European Unionmembers of parliament and other
(46:42):
politicians from across thecontinent marched in the parade.
Liberal Mayor Gerge Kurasoniahelped skirt the official
barriers to the event andmarched with opposition party
members and other city officials.
The Massive Pride March dwarfeda neo-Nazi group's tiny white,
christian, heterosexualmen-and-w women only
(47:02):
counter-demonstration.
Speaker 11 (47:06):
What authorities called a gay party in the
Indonesian city of Bogor wasraided on June 22.
74 men and one woman werearrested in the latest police
action in an ongoing crackdown.
Reports from the publicregarding gay activities
initiated the bust on a villa inthe city's Puncak neighborhood.
(47:27):
According to authorities, sextoys, four condoms and other
evidence of alleged gayactivities were confiscated.
Muslim-majority Indonesia hasno secular national laws against
same-gender sex.
Strong societal taboos remain,however.
Queer defendants are oftencharged with violating the
(47:47):
pornography law, whichcriminalizes material that
contravenes community morality.
As Amnesty International'sstatement pointed out,
ambiguously worded laws onpornography are often exploited
to deliberately target LGBTIpeople, denying them the basic
right to privacy and the rightto enter into consensual
relationships.
(48:07):
The Bogor raid, about 40 milessouth of Jakarta on the island
of Java, is not unique 56 peoplewere arrested in Jakarta itself
on February 1st at an allegedgay party.
Yet another Jakarta Hotelso-called gay sex party was
raided on May 24th, with ninearrests.
The 75 most recent detaineesare facing up to 15 years in
(48:33):
prison for violating Indonesia'spornography law.
Speaker 10 (48:38):
India's transgender women are legally entitled to
recognition as women.
This according to a landmarkruling issued by the Andhra
Pradesh High Court.
India's transgender women arelegally entitled to recognition
as women.
This according to a landmarkruling issued by the Andhra
Pradesh High Court.
In his June 16th decision,Justice Venkata Jyothirma
(49:00):
Pratapah rejected the argumentthat only women who can bear
children qualify as women.
He wrote that previous courtrulings showed that prohibiting
trans women's rights to identifyas women amounted to
discrimination.
Pokala Shabana brought the caseto the High Court in 2022.
She was seeking protection fromher abusive in-laws under a
section of the Indian Penal Code.
Her husband's parents foughther on the grounds that, as a
(49:21):
trans woman, she was not coveredby laws forbidding cruelty
against a woman by a husband orrelatives.
The court's decision to upholdShabana's legal standing as a
woman establishes a precedentfor similar cases in the future.
It ensures that trans women canaccess the same critical
protections against domesticabuse available to cisgender
(49:42):
women.
However, Shabana lost her casedue to lack of evidence of the
abuse.
Speaker 11 (49:49):
The US Supreme Court capped its current session on
June 27th with two cases thatrevolve around conservative
religious beliefs.
One allows parents to shieldtheir public school children
from LGBTQ-inclusive materialthat does not align with their
faiths.
The other requires healthinsurance companies to pay for
certain types of preventive care, including HIV-blocking
(50:12):
medications like PrEP.
The first ruling is in Mahmoodv Taylor, montgomery County.
Public Schools in Maryland hadinitially allowed parents to opt
their children out whenLGBTQ-themed books were made
available in classrooms inOctober 2022.
That process became excessivelycumbersome to administer and
(50:34):
there were also concerns thatthe policy potentially violated
anti-discrimination laws.
When school officials ended theopt-outs in 2023, devout
Christian and Muslim parentsthen sued to have them
reinstated.
The high court took their side.
Far-right Justice Samuel Alitowrote in the 6-3 majority's
(50:54):
opinion we have long recognizedthe rights of parents to direct
the religious upbringing oftheir children and we have held
that those rights are violatedby government policies that
substantially interfere with thereligious development of
children.
There was strong dissent fromthe court's three progressive
justices Sonia Sotomayor, elenaKagan and Katonji Brown.
(51:16):
Jackson Sotomayor's scathingminority opinion warned that the
ruling threatens the veryessence of public education.
She wrote decision guts ourfree exercise precedent and
(51:40):
strikes at the core premise ofpublic schools, that children
may come together to learn notthe teachings of a particular
faith, but a range of conceptsand views that reflect our
entire society.
The reverberations of thecourt's error will be felt, I
fear, for generations.
Speaker 10 (52:00):
The second directly LGBTQ-related end-of-term
Supreme Court ruling was in thecase of Kennedy v Braidwood.
It upholds key provisions ofthe Affordable Care Act that
require private health insurancecompanies to cover preventive
care such as cancer screenings,vaccines and the pre-exposure
prophylaxis medication known asPrEP, which greatly reduces the
(52:22):
risk of transmitting HIV-AIDS.
The plaintiffs cited theirreligious beliefs, claiming that
coverage for PrEP encouragesand facilitates homosexual
behavior.
Trump-appointed Justice BrettKavanaugh wrote the opinion for
the 6-3 majority.
Kavanaugh was joined by thecourt's three progressive
(52:42):
justices Sotomayor, kagan andBrown-Jackson, chief Justice
John Roberts and ConservativeJustice Amy Coney.
Barrett, gay CongressionalEquity Caucus Chair, mark Takano
praised the ruling, sayingafter several terrible
anti-LGBTQI plus rulings, theSupreme Court today got at least
(53:04):
one thing right, and bothLGBTQI plus peoples and the
wider public's health will besafer because of it.
The Supreme Court furtherrocked the nation with a ruling
that could assist Trump's effortto suspend birthright
citizenship.
Finally.
Speaker 8 (53:28):
I, I wanna be in the room where it happens, the room
where it happens, citizenship.
Speaker 11 (53:33):
Finally, a group of queer-supportive US senators
organized a defiant GuerrillaTheater Pride Month concert at
the John F Kennedy Center forthe Performing Arts.
Guerrilla Theater Pride Monthconcert at the John F Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts.
The event trolled PresidentDonald Trump's efforts to ban
drag and suppress queerness atthe venerable Washington DC
showplace.
Many artists have declined toperform at the center since the
(53:54):
Trump takeover and subscriptionsales for the coming season are
down by more than 35 percent.
However, on June 23rd, a144-seat lecture hall in the
building featured out-Broadwayperformers and fierce ally and
creator of the highly acclaimedmusical Hamilton, lin-manuel
Miranda.
(54:15):
The DC Gay Men's Chorus Prideconcert at the center had been
canceled, but on this eveningthey shared the stage with famed
playwrights Tony Kushner andHarvey Fierstein.
Colorado Senator JohnHickenlooper spearheaded the
evening's entertainment, joinedby out Wisconsin Senator Tammy
Baldwin and a few other Senatecolleagues.
(54:35):
In the words of co-conspiratorand Hamilton producer Jeffrey
Seller, this is our way ofreoccupying the Kennedy Center.
This is a form of saying we arehere, we exist and you can't
ignore us.
This is a protest and apolitical act.
Speaker 10 (54:53):
That's News Wrap, global queer news with attitude
for the week ending June 28th2025.
Follow the news in your areaand around the world.
An informed community is astrong community.
Speaker 11 (55:05):
News Wrap is written by Greg Gordon and Lucia
Chappell, produced by BrianDeShazer and brought to you by
you.
Speaker 10 (55:13):
Thank you.
Keep us in ears around theworld at thiswayoutorg, where
you can also read the text ofthis newscast and much more.
For this Way Out.
I'm Melanie Keller Stay healthy.
And I'm Natalie.
Speaker 8 (55:25):
Munoz, stay safe, we're here and the colors of the
rainbow Surround you near.
Oh, they will never win thisfight, cause we're stronger than
we've ever been before.
(55:45):
Oh, sending prayers of love,proud of who we are we stand
united.
We stand united, sendingprayers of hope Stronger than
(56:12):
what they know.
Speaker 7 (56:12):
We stand united.
We stand united when we standtogether.
There's nothing we can'tachieve, no matter your race or
creed.
We just gotta believe we areall survivors.
We just gotta keep riding.
They try to take our pride, butwe just gotta keep fighting.
The time is right now.
No more talking about it.
We more than justchoreographers, stylists and
makeup artists.
We are sons and daughters,rappers, doctors and lawyers,
(56:35):
and when we stand together,we'll be victorious.
Standing friends of love.
Speaker 8 (56:40):
Proud of who we are.
We stand united.
We stand united, standingfriends of love.
Speaker 1 (56:56):
This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston
and as a podcast available fromseveral podcasting sources.
Check our webpageQueerVoicesorg for more
information.
Queer Voices executive produceris Brian Levinka.
Debra Moncrief-Bell isco-producer, brett Cullum and
(57:20):
David Mendoza-Druzman arecontributors.
The News Wrap segment is partof another podcast called this
Way Out, which is produced inLos Angeles.
Speaker 9 (57:31):
Some of the material in this program has been edited
to improve clarity and runtime.
This program does not endorseany political views or animal
species.
Views, opinions andendorsements are those of the
participants and theorganizations they represent.
In case of death, pleasediscontinue use and discard
remaining products.
Speaker 1 (57:43):
For Queer Voices.
I'm Glenn Holt, Thank you.
Hello everybody, this is Queer Voices, a podcast
version of a broadcast radioshow that's been on the air in
Houston, texas, for severaldecades.
This week, brian Levinka talkswith Hayden Cohen, co-founder
and state policy director atStudents Engaged in Advancing
Texas.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We've kind of created this massive movement.
Two years ago we had anadvocacy day.
There were maybe 25 students.
This past year we had anadvocacy day in the legislative
session of over 300.
So it kind of goes to show ourgrowth as an organization.
And these were students whomaybe hadn't ever been to the
Capitol before.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Brett Cullum has a conversation with Lane Lewis,
one of the three distinguishedGrand Marshals of this year's
Pride Parade.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Bill Scott.
He was a Houston legend.
In my opinion, he taught methat there were two ingredients
of hope anger and the courage todo something about it.
We're in an area where LGBTrights, particularly trans
rights, are currently beingsystematically dismantled, so
I'm hoping that people will getangry and find courage and Brett
talks with Domenico Leona, theproducer and director of Pullman
(01:15):
Washington, currently runningat the match.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
I'll be passing things out to the audience and
getting them involved.
That, I think, will assist inmaking the play more engaging in
terms of its spectacle, which Ithink will enhance the words
that are already on the page,which are brilliant.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Queer Voices starts now.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
This is Brian Lemicka , and today I'm speaking with
Hayden Cohen, a Grand Marshalfor the 2025 Pride Parade.
Hayden, what is your GrandMarshal title?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I am the trendsetter category, so that is young folks
.
I think it's anyone under theage of 25.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
Tell me about yourself and who you are and
what you do in the community.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I'm currently a student, but in the queer
community I'm very much apolitical advocate.
I work very much in theeducation policy spaces but that
oftentimes collides with LGBTplus related policies.
On the side, I register peopleto vote, I volunteer with the
LGBT plus political caucus andwith a few other LGBT plus
(02:20):
organizations locally andnationally.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
Do you believe that pride is still relevant?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Attacks and harm that the queer community is under
looks different a little bitthan when it did when Stonewall
happened, but we still have somuch hate and the need for the
queer joy and the need tocelebrate and the need to be in
community more so than ever.
So, absolutely, pride is stillrelevant.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Can you tell us about coming out and what was that
process like?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I first came out as gay when I was about 14, coming
into my freshman year of highschool, I came out to my parents
, my family.
They were all pretty chillabout it.
Then, later on, it ended upcoming out as non-binary.
It came out with a differentname and pronouns.
Ironically, I actually used itout in a Smart article to do
(03:13):
that, because I was beinginterviewed for something and I
told them hey, I want to go byHayden in the article and so if
I ever wanted to show that to myparents, I would have to tell
them.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Can you tell me your greatest Pride memory?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Pride happens in many different forms and it's not
necessarily the parade and thefestival.
One of my greatest memories isit's over my birthday, but it
also happened to coincide with aJewish holiday and my friend
and I were making these rainbowtriangle cookies we call them
hamantaschenes for this holiday,purim, and so we decided to
(03:47):
make them rainbow.
After a friend of ours had madetrans flag hamantaschenes, we
shared them with some friendsand that was just really cool
and kind of a really cool likeprideful moment.
But it wasn't necessarily afestival parade.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
This isn't necessarily Houston-related
pride memory.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
This happened in New Jersey.
When did you move to Houston?
Speaker 5 (04:12):
No, I've lived in Houston my entire life.
I went on a trip with a friend.
Is there anything that you wantour listeners to know that you
have not told us?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Mention something that I mentioned at the Grand
Marshal reception last weekend,and something really unique
about this category of GrandMarshal is that we do just as
much work as the other GrandMarshals.
We're just as much of badassesand we put in the time, for sure
.
But the thing that makes usreally unique is we've got
homework at home after everyevent and we're still very much
(04:41):
in school and dealing witheverything that young people go
through as growing up because weare younger.
But it also shows that we'vedone a lot in the few years that
we've been around and in queerspaces and in political spaces.
So it's really cool to kind ofhave that equivalent, so an
honor, even though I haven'tbeen doing this for 20 something
years.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
Are there any social media things that you want to
promote?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I use Instagram most, and then, obviously, I'm the
state policy director of anincredible organization called
Students Engaged in AdvancingTexas.
Our handle on Instagram is atstudentsengagetx.
We do post a lot.
We have a lot of coolopportunities, cool things that
are going on.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
Tell me about that organization.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Students Engaged in Advancing Texas was founded by
myself and another student.
We focus on policy issuesaffecting students and bringing
students into those spaces totalk with their lawmakers and to
talk with the people who aredeciding these decisions about
education, because oftentimesyoung people are left out of
those conversations.
We've kind of created thismassive movement.
(05:48):
Two years ago we had anadvocacy day.
There were maybe 25 students.
This past year we had anadvocacy day in the legislative
session of over 300.
So it kind of goes to show ourgrowth as an organization and
these were students who maybehadn't ever been to the Capitol
before, hadn't ever met theirlawmakers before, and now got
(06:08):
the opportunity to speak totheir staff and share about
different priorities studentshave in the session.
Oftentimes students areoverlooked in terms of their
opinion around what's going on,but frankly, they're the primary
stakeholders when it comes toour education.
We're kind of bridging that gapand showing that students can
actually have a voice and we'rehelping them do it.
It's such a cool part of my jobwhen I get to bring young
(06:33):
people to the Capitol for thefirst time or show them
lawmakers or introduce them tosome of our incredible coalition
partners and we really get intothe nitty-gritty of policy.
I think this past weekend wehad some folks over at the AFT
event in Dallas.
We do all sorts of eventslocally and then some big stuff
in Austin sometimes.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Is that LGBT-focused or is it kind of across the
board?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
It's not explicitly.
We very much focus oneducational issues broadly.
However, there is a lot ofoverlap that we see with making
sure students can testifyagainst their gender impact,
queer students or vice versa,and pushing for good policy in
schools.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
What is your advice to people that are coming to the
Capitol for the first time forthe legislative session?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
It depends what you're coming for.
If you are coming for anadvocacy day, absolutely enjoy
it.
Soak in every moment, speak toyour lawmakers, be passionate,
tell your personal stories forsure.
If you are coming to testifywhich I often did and I would
bring students to testify withme be prepared to not know where
you need to be and what youneed to be doing at all times,
(07:58):
because the legislature is sounpredictable.
You don't know when your billis going to come up, what room
you're going to be in, who'sgoing to be in the committee
room at that time.
You don't know anything, and soyou just have to be prepared
for whatever, and always greatto find a buddy who's done this
before, who's testified before,and there are so many great
(08:20):
organizations that will show up,especially for the bigger
hearings.
You just follow them.
They'll feed you, they'll makesure you've got water, they'll
tell you everything you need toknow about testifying.
But don't do this stuff alone.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
For sure, we're speaking with Hayden Cohen, the
trendsetter grand marshal forthe 2025 Pride Parade.
No-transcript.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Awesome, thank you so much, Brian.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Coming up on Queer Voices Lane Lewis, one of this
year's distinguished grandmarshals, and Domenico Leona,
the producer and director of theplay Pullman Washington.
We also have news wrap fromthis Way Out.
News Wrap from this way out.
(09:07):
Did you know that KPFT iscompletely listener-funded?
There are no underwriters, soit's up to all of us to pay for
the freedom to say what you hearhere on Queer Voices and on
this station in general.
That means you participate inour programming just by
listening and also by pledgingyour support.
(09:30):
Please do that now by going tothe KPFT website and clicking on
the red Donate Now button, andplease mention queer voices when
you do.
Speaker 6 (09:42):
Thank you when you do .
Thank you.
I am Brett Cullum and today Iam joined by 2025's
distinguished Grand Marshal Lane.
Lewis Lane has basically helpedwrite LGBTQI plus history
because he is a longtimeorganizer.
Former Harris County DemocraticParty chair Lane played a
(10:03):
pivotal role in bringingLawrence versus Texas to the
United States Supreme Court.
He has been a social worker.
He's founded a youth center.
He's worked in a psychiatrichospital.
Bless him for that.
He has a master's in teaching.
Lane was an appointee of MayorBob Lanier, mayor Lee Brown and
Mayor Bill White.
He's been an advisor to theHouston Police Department for
(10:23):
over two decades on the PoliceAdvisory Committee.
He's been an advisor to theHouston Police Department for
over two decades on the PoliceAdvisory Committee.
He's been on the Citizen ReviewCommittee, the Administrative
Discipline Committee and thePolice Academy and when I met
him he was fighting City Hallwhen they wanted to close down
access to all ages clubs, likeNumbers back in the.
Okay, I'm not going to claim orname this year at all, but
(10:43):
welcome Wayne Lewis.
Thank you so much.
You've done so much that I'mexhausted.
Going to claim or name thisyear at all, but welcome Wayne.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Lewis, thank you so much.
You've done so much that I'mexhausted reading about it.
I think that was 1987.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
Yeah, no, I didn't even want to go there, I didn't
want to date us.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
that bad, but yeah.
And recently there's a group ofpeople out of LA that's working
on a documentary on some of thestuff that I've done and they
found a video, I think, fromChannel 11.
I've seen it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're theones that sent it to me.
I don't know how they got it.
Speaker 6 (11:18):
It was in the Numbers documentary, though, wasn't it?
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah, I sent it to.
Well, was it Marcus?
Fine, I guess maybe Marcus isthe one that it was not the Los
Angeles guy.
It was Marcus that found thatand sent to me and said is this
you?
And I was like holy cow.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
For all the listeners that are like going what is
going on here?
Numbers had a documentarycalled Friday I'm in Love.
Marcus Pantillo made thisincredible documentary about
numbers and included footage ofLane Lewis fighting to keep
numbers all ages and the late80s for that, and that just was
kind of the beginning of youractivism.
I mean, I really feel like thatwas where you kind of came on
the scene and everything andyou've done so much and it's
(11:55):
just crazy when I look at howmuch you've done in your
lifetime and how many timesyou've shifted and how many
times you've, like, changedcareers and done all of this, I
mean it's like there was noclear path, for Lane was there.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
No, and I'm sure it kept my mother up many a night.
I was sort of on the cusp.
What was it?
The death of a salesman.
You know, you get a good joband you do it for 40 years and
then you retire and die.
I was much more of arenaissance attitude.
I wanted to do, and I would doit for five, six, seven years
and then I would get bored andI'd be like you know what, what
do I want to do next?
(12:28):
Some things were planned.
I bartended and managed anightclub.
I was a DJ back in the 80s.
That was my first career, Iguess you could say, working at
NRG and places.
Then I came back from New York.
I was working on Stonewall 25.
I had started as the youthconstituent.
For that it was aninternational march on the
(12:48):
United Nations calling for queerequality across the world,
celebrating the 25th anniversaryof Stonewall.
I started off as a youthconstituent, as the youth
constituent, as if this white,gay male represented all queer
youth in the world.
But anyway, I was the one thatshowed up, so I got the job.
Then, from there I went on tobecome the head of the direct
action working group and endedup on the executive committee.
(13:08):
So anyway, I had to move to NewYork.
The result of that when I cameback, I needed a job.
I had no job.
So I went to Jay Allen atPacific Street, said you know,
hey, I need a job.
You've helped me withfundraisers and stuff in the
past.
Would you help me out with ajob?
He said you know how to bartend.
I said no, actually I do notknow how to bartend, but give me
your worst bar, I'll make ityour best within a couple of
(13:31):
months or you can fire me.
I ended up working there forabout six or seven years.
I just figured it out.
I can't think of a single jobthat I've ever had that I knew
what the hell I was doing beforeI got it you're just the guy
that kind of adapts to that.
Speaker 6 (13:45):
So, going back to 2025, distinguished brand
marshal, what does that mean toyou?
I mean, what kind of honor isthis?
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Things like this obviously bring recognition to
an individual's past and currentdeeds.
I reckon it also emboldens youto move forward and do more
right.
It gives you credentials to domore.
But what I'm really hoping notso much what it does for me, but
I'm hoping others will see andread about the things that we
(14:14):
have fought for and howdifficult they were to achieve.
It gives them hope.
Better yet, it gets them active, right that they want to do
these things as well,particularly in today's climate
where we are losing rights,certainly faster than we're
getting them, and these oldfights that we thought we were
done with right, roe v Wade andmarriage equality.
(14:36):
We thought we were done withall this.
We are not.
We are going to have to fightthem again, most likely Bill
Scott he was a Houston legend,in my opinion.
He taught me that there weretwo ingredients of hope anger
and the courage to do somethingabout it.
We're in an area where LGBTrights, particularly trans
rights, are currently beingsystematically dismantled, so
(14:57):
I'm hoping that people will getangry and find courage.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
I remember back in the 80s, early 90s, things like
that, when we were kind ofcoming up, these fights were
going and I do have this deja vufeeling of here it goes again.
I thought we were good, Ithought that the generation
behind us was in good shape andit looked like everything was
going as planned and then all ofa sudden, here's this wave
coming right back and I guessit's that pendulum swing that
(15:24):
always seems to happen inhistory.
So this is a really crucialyear for Pride.
Do you remember like yourearliest Pride or like when you
got involved with Pride?
I mean, obviously you mentionedthat you were involved with
Stonewall at one point in the25th anniversary and things like
that.
So I imagine you've got somegood stories.
Do you remember the early daysof the Houston Pride Parade or
anything like that?
Speaker 3 (15:43):
I honestly I do not.
I don't remember when theHouston Pride Parade or?
Speaker 6 (15:44):
anything like that.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Honestly, I do not.
I don't remember when the firstPride Parade was.
The New York Pride may havebeen before I ever went to a
Houston Pride.
To be honest, I was never onemuch for parades.
I was more interested in marchesand there is a difference, and
I'll tell you.
During Stonewall we had many adebate on whether or not it was
(16:08):
going to be a march or a parade.
The Heritage Foundation, Ithink, is what the New York
Pride was or is called, used tobe called, and they very much
wanted a parade, and me and manyothers on the committee said no
, we're marching for rights.
This isn't a fashion contestfor rights.
But the argument that reallywon the day for us was when we
(16:31):
put forth the argument that,well, you're going to call it an
international march.
I'm wondering how many peoplefrom oh, I don't know
Johannesburg is going to be ableto build a float when they get
here.
So now you have these peoplefrom New York that have these
big, beautiful floats or whathave you, and then you have all
these other countries that havenothing, just rigged of
(16:51):
privilege.
Ultimately, we banned floatsand motor vehicles from
Stonewall.
I guess probably the first realpride events that I remember
being in were probably in themid-'90s, either with riches or
on top of Pacific Street'sfloats, advertising for the bars
and stuff.
Speaker 6 (17:10):
Well, and we're back there too this year.
I think I've heard a lot ofcorporate sponsors are pulling
out because of the currentadministration and the stance on
DEI in Texas.
So we may be right back to thatkind of a thing where there's
not a ton of floats, there arebars and us and community
organizations.
So kind of a thing wherethere's not a ton of floats,
there are bars and us andcommunity organizations.
So kind of a wild time to bringyou up to the head of the
(17:31):
parade, to march forward andbring us back into this era, I
guess and I've been hearingrumblings nationwide within
pride organizations that manyare looking to downgrade the
parade image a march image.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
particularly in these times I think that would not be
a bad idea.
Speaker 6 (17:55):
I think that we need that kind of anger because of
what's happening to ourcommunity, and I think that that
would be a very importantcomponent of this year's
celebration Because, as youobserved, I mean, the trans
rights in Texas are just insevere jeopardy and we all know
that if they don't win thatfight, who's next?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
And I can remember years back in the late 80s,
early 90s, where that was a bigdiscussion because the majority
of what you saw within the gaycommunity was the white male.
So some of us who were whitemales were really really pushing
for a more inclusive image andconversation around those that
(18:35):
did not fit the white male imageand there was pushback.
I was there for it.
I remember some very heatedarguments within local
organizations and nationalorganizations where that was not
a very popular opinion.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
Well, let's be honest , though.
I still hear some of thesearguments going on today, which
I think is a real shame.
I think that we've come so farand we have this community and
we have this chance to reallychampion it for everybody.
It's not time for us to kind ofpull back?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I've always believed that if you're at the top of the
ladder, you reach down and grabthe very lowest rung and pull
them up, because everybodybetween you and them will come
up with it.
Speaker 6 (19:17):
How do you think that pride is relevant now, because
it's certainly changing a littlebit.
It's certainly not, like yousaid, the fashion show.
I mean it's definitely.
It's making statements a littlebit.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Well, you know, it's a bell curve, it's a march for
recognition, and then youfinally begin achieving those
recognitions and then it becomesmore of a festival or
celebration.
My concern is that far too manypeople think that we are in
celebration mode, and that isnot the era that we are in
celebration mode and that is notthe era that we are in, and a
(19:47):
large part of it.
Let's talk about the thingsthat created a need for
celebration.
You had PrEP come along, whichrevolutionized a lot of lives,
because throughout the 80s and90s it was HIV, AIDS, death
sentence.
And PrEP comes along andchanges those dynamics AIDS,
death sentence.
Then PrEP comes along andchanges those dynamics.
(20:07):
Lawrence v, Texas.
The legalization of sodomy andthus the legalization of
queerness in general.
And you had marriage equality.
You had Ellen, you had Will andGrace.
These are things that prior tothe mid-90s I guess somewhere
around in there you didn't have.
So there was a reason forcelebrating.
I'm not sure around in thereyou didn't have.
So there was a reason forcelebrating.
I'm not sure we're there rightnow.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Well, ironically though, the theme this year is
celebration is our legacy, sowe've got that in there, but it
is definitely going to be apointed celebration.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
And I hope so.
Definitely there's things tostill celebrate, but if we're
not careful, celebration will belegacy, not reality.
Speaker 6 (20:50):
Very well said.
Yeah, that makes senseAbsolutely.
So what would you say yournumber one achievement for the
queer community is?
I mean, you've done so muchthat I would be really
hard-pressed to do that.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
You're very kind, do that.
You're very kind.
Probably Lawrence v Texascertainly made the biggest
impact to the most people.
Without Lawrence v Texas therewould be no employment
guarantees, there would be nomarriage equality.
I mean, none of that happenswithout 2106 and Lawrence v
Texas.
So that's probably what I'vemade the most impact for.
What am I most proud of?
(21:25):
It would probably be the youthcenter in the early 90s Lewis
Scott Youth Center, me and BillScott, which eventually became
Hippie with Tracy Brown HoustonInstitute for Protection of
Youth.
We were at that time, as far asI know, the only residential
treatment facility for queerhomeless kids and this was back
in 91, 92, something like that.
Also, there was different timesin the homeless and out of
(21:50):
touch now.
So I don't really know what thehomeless statistics are now.
Back then I think it was 50 to60% of all homeless kids were bi
or gay, transgender.
I don't know what that stat isnow.
I would think it would be less,but I don't know that to be
true.
But the other statistic that Iremember back then that was so
alarming that really is the onethat got my attention was a
(22:13):
national study that said thatwithin 14 days of being on the
street a child was on drugs,prostituting, hiv positive or
some combination of the three.
It was so alarming to me thatyou had a two-week window.
Now, granted, I was only about21 or 22 at the time, so I
wasn't that old, but thatstatistic just shook me to my
(22:36):
core.
And I had gone to a black tiedinner for the Gay and Lesbian
Political Caucus now the LGBTQPolitical Caucus but at that
time there was no HRC Black TideDinner, not here in Houston
anyway.
It was the Political Caucus'sBlack Tide Dinner, and Bill
Scott, like I said, was thekeynote speaker that year and he
(22:56):
had helped start all thesevarious organizations AIDS
Foundation, montrose CounselingCenter, body Positive, montrose
Clinic, now Legacy and otherthings.
But he said we don't haveanything for the aging and we
don't have anything for youth.
And he said before I die, Ihope to get those going.
So afterwards I walked up and Ishared the statistic and I
asked him well, why don't wehave anything for the aging and
(23:18):
the youth?
And he said the aging is simple.
Most of them are dead.
We don't have an aging gaypopulation.
They didn't survive the 80s and90s which holy cow.
He was right on that.
But fortunately now we do havean aging community and the
counseling center a few yearsago opened up a quote unquote
retirement facility for ouraging population.
(23:38):
Which fan-freaking-tastic isthat.
And on the youth side he saidwell, there's no youth services
because of internalizedhomophobia.
And I asked him to explain whathe meant by that.
And he said people don't wantto provide services to young
queers because internalizedhomophobia.
We're afraid of what we will beaccused of by treating that
(23:59):
population.
I said, well, it doesn't scareme, I'll do it if you'll do it.
And he said okay, said let'sget together and talk about it.
Within six months I think I'dgone to Mickey Rosemary who owns
Tootsies.
He gave me my first $25,000check to open up that youth
center.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Well, here's a sobering statistic the current
population of homeless youth inthe United States that identify
as LGBTQIA, plus 40%.
So we've dropped it 10 sincethe 90s, but that's not a lot
when you think about it.
It's still 40% identify as apart of our community and
certainly a lot of work stillneeds to be done.
(24:38):
And, of course, law Harrington,one of our own hosts on the
show, lives there.
So shout out to Deborah Bell,that's her address right now.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
I really wish bill had been alive to see that an
amazing, amazing accomplishmentthere.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
Thank you for all that you've done and
congratulations on being 2025.
Distinguished grand marshal,did you ever think that you were
being called distinguished?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
no, after living through the 80 and 90s I never
figured I'd live old enough tobe distinguished anything, but
somehow I survived, knocked onwood.
Somebody walked up to me on thedance floor last weekend and
said so do I now have to callyou the Honorable Distinguished
County?
I don't know.
It was this long, long title ofthings I have done.
(25:25):
I can just call me Lane.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
That's what I've always known you as, from the
days of energy and numbers andthings like that.
Well, thank you.
It was great to go down memorylane with you and talk about all
of the stuff that you've done.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
I'm looking to see.
I think we just had a recentanniversary of Lawrence v Texas,
didn't we?
Or we have it coming up.
Let me look, because peopleforget that it's only been.
Oh, it's June 26th.
Is the anniversary June 26th?
Speaker 6 (25:54):
Pretty close, I mean, and that was like 2003,.
So I remember that pride ofcelebration, because that was a
big one.
We were suddenly legal.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Listeners need to remember that prior to 2003, you
were not a legal individual.
Speaker 6 (26:08):
No, you could be criminal, it was criminal.
It was a little more punk rockto be criminal.
But hey, I will take the rightsPlease.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
They get a chance, tell them to go watch that
numbers documentary that RiverOaks Theater shows it every now
and then.
It's well worth their time.
People need to understand thatnumbers.
At a time when we had nomeeting place, we could not meet
and organize, there was noplace to sit and talk about
queer rights or HIV rights, andnumbers opened its dance floor.
(26:38):
How to organize us to meetthere?
So they need to understandtheir history on that too.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
And still the owner was there for that.
Shout out to Numbers and theirwonderful documentary Friday I'm
in Love.
And shout out to Lane Lewis,2025's distinguished Grand
Marshal.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Part of our Queer Voices community listens on KPFT
, which is a nonprofit communityradio station, and as such,
kpft does not endorse or holdany standing on matters of
politics.
If you would like Equal Airtimeto represent an alternative
point of view, please contact usthrough kpftorg or our own
(27:18):
website at queervoicesorg.
This is Queer Voices.
This is Queer Voices.
This is KPFT.
90.1 FM Houston, 89.5 FMGalveston, 91.9 FM Huntsville,
and worldwide on the internet atkpftorg.
Speaker 8 (27:44):
The night is long and the path is dark.
Look to the sky for what it'scalled.
The dawn will come.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
This is Queer Voices.
Speaker 6 (28:04):
Pullman Washington is a play from acclaimed American
playwright Yong-Ching Lee.
The Phoenix Group is producingthis regional premiere, which
will run at the Match, august14th through the 17th.
This is a play about what to doif you're unhappy and everyone
around you is kind of a well ana-hole, including yourself, of
course.
Certainly a really great idea,just in that cinema alone.
(28:26):
And joining me today isdirector Domenico Leona.
Hey there, domenico, hello, hey.
Okay, so tell me about thisplay, pullman Washington.
What is it about?
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Okay.
Okay, you know it's funnybecause you look at young Jean
Lee and kind of her history inplaywriting and in music and you
probably liken it to theobscure.
But I actually think that thisplay, while maybe obscure in
execution, is actually verysimple.
So three ordinary people try todeliver this life-changing TED
(28:59):
talk and address an audiencedirectly and tell them how they
should live their lives.
And as they attempt to do thisand usually fail, they kind of
get into these hijinks wherethis, what starts off as this
well well-intentioned self-helpseminar, kind of becomes this
brutal disintegration of all oftheir egos and the way they live
(29:22):
their own lives.
And it kind of acts as acommentary on like how people
who try and influence us oftendon't always have their own
lives together and hilarityensues from there.
Would you call it more of acomedy?
Very much so.
I would call it a comedy.
It's a romp If I can share thestory of kind of how it came to
be.
So I was sitting at the recrooms Happy Hour Readings.
(29:44):
Happy Hour Readings is thesister company at the rec room
run by Brenda Palestina and EmmaBacon, who hold a reading of a
play the first Monday of everymonth and they did Pullman
Washington, which was, I believe, headed by Alan Kim at the time
.
This play burned through in 75minutes.
It's absolutely hilarious.
It goes to such bizarre lengths.
(30:05):
One of the characters isobsessed with mermaids and
unicorns and making everybodyfeel optimistic whenever they're
down.
One of them acts as sort ofthis, like he has the candor of
an evangelical pastor, and thenone of them is just trying to
kind of deliver a TED talk,trying to seem educated and
consistently failing to get herpoint across.
And whenever we're watchingthis, I mean we're all just
(30:31):
cracking up and the play endsand we're all kind of like what
was that?
But then these questions startarising of, like the characters,
as societal pressures and howlike the play almost felt like
we were inside three people'sminds or that we were in three
different aspects of someone'sown mind, and that was really
interesting to me.
Then we start delving into likepolitics and society and you
(30:53):
know the election at the time,and it just it was very
interesting to me that a playthat is essentially three people
just talking about how do welive our lives moved people on a
very human level, especiallywhen it's absurd and bizarre as
a very human level, especiallywhen it's absurd and bizarre, as
this one is, and especiallywhen it's entertaining.
And I think that all derivesfrom the fact that it's more
relevant now than ever this playwas written in 2002, but it's
(31:17):
more relevant now than ever thatthree people from three
completely different generations, backgrounds, can all ask the
same question how do I live mylife, how should I, how should
you?
And let me tell you how to liveyour life.
And I think that that just kindof struck a lot of people in
that room and that kind of ledto me producing it.
Well, tell me about the Phoenix.
Speaker 6 (31:37):
Group because I don't not familiar with you guys yet.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Yeah, yeah, no, this is our.
This is our inauguralproduction.
We made a joke whenever we kindof first brought this together
we being me and my good friend,Josh Harris, who's an incredible
.
He's in a lot of improv comedy.
He went to SFA and has donesome great work around the state
and this will be his firstproduction in Houston.
He's going to be playing therole of himself in this play,
(32:03):
because I hadn't mentioned thenames of the characters in this
play.
Always I hadn't mentioned thenames of the characters in this
play.
Always in every productioncarry the names of the actors,
which is another interestingaspect of it.
But, yeah, the phoenix group wasessentially like recidivistic
buffoonery, that is, the attackon the arts.
Currently, you look at theissues with you know the kennedy
center and what's going on inthe current administration and
(32:25):
and rather than like forming anew company to have like a
specific mission, I really justI love theater.
The people that are workingwith me on this love theater and
we just want to be a part ofthe reason that there's a little
bit more out there.
I wish I could give you thiselegant response that, oh, the
Phoenix Group is representation,in its title alone, of theater
is transient, but it has apermanence to it.
(32:49):
It stays in us and a phoenixcan be reborn.
In reality, it's just namedafter my niece.
Speaker 6 (32:54):
Oh, no, Well, that's not a bad place to gather
inspiration from your niece.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Yeah, very much.
I wholeheartedly agree withthat.
Speaker 6 (33:03):
She's called Phoenix.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
That's her name.
She's called Phoenix.
Her name, her name.
She's called Phoenix.
Her name is Phoenix ArayaSunshine Reynolds.
Speaker 6 (33:09):
Wow.
Well, she sounds like she'sgoing to be theatrical anyway,
just given that kind of a name.
So there you are.
I'm definitely counting on it.
Yeah, well, and you've actuallywielded in a power by naming
your group after her.
But this is a pretty easy playto set up, but from what I
gather, I mean three people, Notreally a huge set or anything.
I mean I think you just havesome whiteboards or presentation
(33:31):
materials for the self-helpseminar.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Yeah, that's correct.
There is a specific aspect ofthe play that's really, really
intriguing and that is thepresence of something in the
script called the giving up area, which is an area where
characters go whenever they'vegiven up, as in the script.
So whenever I watched aproduction of this because,
(34:05):
going back to whenever we wereat the happy hour readings
something that came up that wasreally striking to me was we
discussed almost immediatelyafter the play ended like who
would produce this in Houston?
And the room kind of a roomthat was very vibrant and, you
know, filled with laughter justmoments before kind of deflated
a little bit and things werebrought up like oh you know,
catastrophic in the rec room andthere was a little bit of like
reticence from people in theroom that worked with that
company.
Talk about it.
And I kind of went from that andwas like well, why does it have
(34:27):
to be a theater that's alreadyexisting?
Why can't anyone do this play,especially with the setup that
you just described?
It is very simple and I wentand saw the taping on Young Jean
Lee's website of the originalproduction at PS122 in
Washington and I saw that it wasjust three actors standing on a
bare stage, street clothes,talking, and it was completely
different from how I envisionedit, both in energy and in
(34:50):
presentation, and so I think areal challenge for me or not
necessarily a challenge, butsomething that's motivating and
enticing is taking a play thatis bare stage and how do we add
strokes of color onto thatcanvas.
And so I have some ideas forthe giving up area for some
scenes that involve a whiteboard.
(35:11):
I'll be passing things out tothe audience and getting them
involved.
That, I think, will assist inmaking the play more engaging in
terms of its spectacle, which Ithink will enhance the words
that are already on the page,which are brilliant.
Speaker 6 (35:24):
Well, you're directing this one and you have
some help from a woman namedAshley Galan.
Okay, I didn't want to butcherher last name.
I was looking at it goingAshley, I can get, but Galan,
I'm never quite sure.
How did you get together withAshley?
I mean, how do you two knoweach other?
Speaker 4 (35:46):
Oh man, me and Ashley go way back.
So Ashley's a vet.
She's been in the Houston scenefor a long time.
She's acted with, you know,theatrics for their Javier
Descortes Festival.
She house manages and stagemanages all over town.
She just stage managed Kim'sConvenience over at Main Street
Theater.
Whenever I met her, most of myinteractions in Houston tend to
(36:07):
be, you know, incrediblypleasant and I've found this
city to be at least thiscommunity, that being theater to
be very polite and welcoming tothe point of like.
Whenever I've shared scriptsthat I've written or I've, you
know, done auditions, I feltlike everything I get is so, so
positive and encouraging.
But with Ashley there wassomething interesting.
When we first met, we had onelong discussion about theater
(36:31):
and she pretty much disagreedwith everything I had to say and
had just eloquent, educatedreasoning for, like, why she was
disagreeing with me so much.
And I remember my impressionworking with her was just that
this is someone who would neversugarcoat anything and would
keep me, you know, in check, soto speak, especially coming into
it.
My impression working with herwas just that this is someone
who would never sugarcoatanything and would keep me, you
know, in check, so to speak,especially coming into.
I come from a poetry background.
(36:52):
This is the first time I'veever directed on stage.
I just wanted someone with thatkind of strong, singular,
unique voice to come onto thisproduction.
I think, especially with thethe broadness of the play, that
these characters are asking suchan open-ended question how do
you live, I think, having theperspective of not only a woman
on our set but a woman of color?
(37:13):
There are two women in theproduction and I always seek to
bring, from as many diversebackgrounds as I can, anyone
into my team because I want asmuch perspective as I can
possibly get going into a playlike this.
And so I think, to answer yourquestion, yeah, it's just to get
a better perspective fromsomeone that, in my opinion, is
much smarter than I am.
Speaker 6 (37:33):
Your first play and you pick a play by Young Jean
Lee.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 6 (37:39):
Just jump right in there into the fire, just don't
even warm it up.
Go, let's swing big.
But what made you want to enterthis fray?
I mean, you obviously have apoetry background and things
like that and I've seen youaround a mainstream theater and
things like that but what madeyou want to direct and produce
and all of that?
I mean it was just uh man withwith this play it's.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
It's so interesting because I I never thought I
would go into directing ordesigning anything.
I've worked as an actor andpoetry.
I enjoy having full controlover what I'm writing and
performing.
I perform regularly at AvantGarden and places like that and
that's a community that's verysimilar to theater in Houston
and it's kind of welcomingnature, but it is also just
(38:26):
bustling with so much creativityand so many voices.
And the more I got involvedwith Houston theater and the
more I got involved inparticular with, like the rec
room happy hour readings, I kindof felt myself getting the itch
to create something.
But I think the big thing thathappened to me was I heard
someone talking about poetryversus a novel.
They were saying well, you know, a novel is like riding a
(38:48):
bicycle.
You have to ride your bicycleand you have to stay in your
lane.
You have to stay on the trail,Otherwise you'll get hit by a
car, but poetry is like walkingon the moon.
And while it's a lovelysentiment and has great syntax,
I strongly disagree.
I think whenever you're workingon a sonnet or a poem, there
are things, whenever you'relooking at it, that says, oh,
(39:11):
these are rules, the 16 lines ina sonnet, the rhyme scheme, the
5-7-5 nature of a haiku, andthen you go to college and a
college professor says, oh,these aren't rules, they're
guidelines.
And then I look at my owncreative life, moving here to
Houston, and I've learned thatin poetry it's really more
conditions.
And what is the reason forthose conditions?
(39:33):
Why do you have to work withinthose 16 lines, within that
5-7-5 parameter?
And it's because conditionslike that force the innovation
to come from inward, if thatmakes any sense, and I don't
think that a play is anydifferent to that.
I have a certain number ofpages and words that only exist
(39:53):
on the page and I can't gooutside of that.
And there's room for improv,but it's set in stone.
And I have to take thisproduction that's never been
done in Houston and createsomething that relates not only
to people in general but peoplefrom Houston.
And I think finding creativesolutions to that problem is
(40:14):
what enticed me into directing.
Trying to prove that directingis no different to poetry and it
is also just as freeing aswalking on the moon, I think,
was what really pushed me tothis one in particular.
Speaker 6 (40:25):
What I extracted from that particularly was
creatively solving problems.
I think that that, more thananything, encapsulates what I
see with the companies thatyou've mentioned before Rec Room
Arts, catastrophic Theater,even like Dirt Dogs or Main
Street Theater or even the Alley.
I mean, they are giving theseparameters of a script and
(40:46):
trying to figure out how do wepresent this in a way that is
expressive and that representswhat we want to get out of it
and everything like that.
So in that sense, I can see thepoetry thing and it tracks, I
guess, and so I can see that.
So it'll be interesting.
I'm talking with Domenico Leona,who is with the Phoenix Group,
and of course they are producingPullman Washington, young Jean
(41:07):
Lee work and it's going to be atthe Match August 14th through
the 17th, and you are kind ofgoing for like a Catastrophic
Theater, pay what you Can, kindof model right for the tickets,
absolutely.
And you even got Free BeerFriday, yeah, that's true.
So that is definitely one ofthose things where you get to
pick your ticket price.
(41:28):
Of course, as I mentioned foryour friday, you're gonna have a
talk back on saturday with thecreative team, correct all of
that.
So that's, that's amazing.
You got a lot packed into oneweekend for sure what are your
plans after this?
do you have anything?
Is this like a one and donething for you?
Are you you going to keepproducing?
Speaker 4 (41:48):
You know I don't think I've ever closed the book
on anything in my life.
You know, like going frompoetry, you know I've directed
little short films here andthere and I haven't directed a
film in four years but I'd neverclosed the book on that.
So, especially in theater justclosed the Three Musketeers as
an actor on Monday, I plan toact in plays and direct in plays
(42:11):
at any level for theforeseeable future.
I think the big thing for mestaying in this community is
that I intend to be in Houston along time and I truly believe
that this city is a couple years, if a year, away from a huge
renaissance in the arts where alot of new voices are going to
get heard and a lot of new workis going to move people.
(42:33):
You know, to come back to thetheater, despite, you know,
theater maybe not recovering aswell as something like, you know
, streaming services did postpost pandemic, yeah, no, I would
never close the book ondirecting another play.
I have some in mind that I wouldlove to do, but I'm seeing how
this one goes, you know, seeingif I can, you know, make enough
(42:54):
incentives like a Free BeerFriday, a Talkback, a marketing
campaign which starts tomorrowwhere I'll be putting out videos
about the production of theplay and behind-the-scenes stuff
, interviews with my cast.
I want to see how many people Ican get in the door and if the
city of Houston decides thatthey want to see more of the
Phoenix Group, then they willabsolutely have the opportunity
(43:14):
to support that and I will pushforward and do more and, like I
said, I can always throw outthat.
Oh well, a Phoenix never dies,so who knows?
Speaker 6 (43:27):
Five years pass.
I'll be like the Phoenix Groupis back.
You know it's perfectly namedas far as like returning again
and again and again from theashes.
But you picked a good time.
The summer is a little bit of adearth as far as a theater goes
.
Most of our professionaltheaters run their seasons from
September to May.
So really, this is a reallysmart time to do it.
So really, this is a reallysmart time to do it, and
offering beer on a Friday inAugust not a bad move.
(43:51):
So there you are.
Well, I certainly wish you allthe success.
Pullman Washington is the play,obviously at the match one
weekend, kind of Thursday August14th through Sunday August 17th
.
Tickets are, of course,available through the Match
website and they are paying whatyou can, which is always an
amazing way to go.
It really lets people put theirown price on it, which I think
(44:14):
is really cool.
I think that it's one of thosethings where you really but of
course, suggested rate $30,which is pretty cheap for a
production here in Houston,especially one that sounds like
it's going to be as much fun asthis one, because I'm certainly
signing up for any self-helpgroup that goes wrong.
Oh yes, there I could probablyconduct a few yeah.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
I'm banking on it myself.
Speaker 6 (44:40):
Maybe that's what we can do afterwards.
The Phoenix Group, you and I,we can just do self-help groups.
Speaker 4 (44:44):
Yeah, we can just do self-help seminars that go wrong
they do afterwards the phoenixgroup.
Speaker 6 (44:52):
You and I, we can just do self-help groups.
Yeah, we just do self-helpseminars that go wrong.
They're like I really likedthat format, like, yeah, all
right, we'll just have thepermanent giving up space for us
, so it's fine.
Yeah, all right, dominico,thank you so much and I wish you
all the best and hopefully,when I talk to you again, we're
talking about the next projectfor the Phoenix Group and about
how your niece is a successfulactress at a very young age.
Speaker 10 (45:09):
I'm Melanie Keller and I'm Natalie Munoz With Muse
Rap.
A summary of some of the newsthat are affecting LGBTQ
communities around the world forthe week ending June 29, 2025.
Hungarians and visitors fromaround the world turned out by
(45:37):
the thousands in defiance ofPrime Minister Viktor Orban to
march in Budapest's LGBTQ PrideParade.
Budapest Pride PresidentVictoria Rodvini told Agence
France-Presse we believe thereare 180,000 to 200,000 people
attending the record-breakingbut low-key throng marched on
June 28 from Budapest City Hallthrough the city center before
(46:00):
crossing the capital's UrzabetBridge over the Danube River.
The autocratic prime minister'sgoverning party ran the law
through parliament in March thatmakes it an offense to hold or
attend events that depict orpromote homosexuality to minors
aged under 18.
Orban later acknowledged thatBudapest pride was the intended
(46:21):
target.
Authorities threatened ahead ofthe march to use facial
recognition software to identifyparade-goers and punish them
with fines of up to 200,000forints, that's about 586 US
dollars.
If charged, event organizersface up to a year in prison.
Dozens of European Unionmembers of parliament and other
(46:42):
politicians from across thecontinent marched in the parade.
Liberal Mayor Gerge Kurasoniahelped skirt the official
barriers to the event andmarched with opposition party
members and other city officials.
The Massive Pride March dwarfeda neo-Nazi group's tiny white,
christian, heterosexualmen-and-w women only
(47:02):
counter-demonstration.
Speaker 11 (47:06):
What authorities called a gay party in the
Indonesian city of Bogor wasraided on June 22.
74 men and one woman werearrested in the latest police
action in an ongoing crackdown.
Reports from the publicregarding gay activities
initiated the bust on a villa inthe city's Puncak neighborhood.
(47:27):
According to authorities, sextoys, four condoms and other
evidence of alleged gayactivities were confiscated.
Muslim-majority Indonesia hasno secular national laws against
same-gender sex.
Strong societal taboos remain,however.
Queer defendants are oftencharged with violating the
(47:47):
pornography law, whichcriminalizes material that
contravenes community morality.
As Amnesty International'sstatement pointed out,
ambiguously worded laws onpornography are often exploited
to deliberately target LGBTIpeople, denying them the basic
right to privacy and the rightto enter into consensual
relationships.
(48:07):
The Bogor raid, about 40 milessouth of Jakarta on the island
of Java, is not unique 56 peoplewere arrested in Jakarta itself
on February 1st at an allegedgay party.
Yet another Jakarta Hotelso-called gay sex party was
raided on May 24th, with ninearrests.
The 75 most recent detaineesare facing up to 15 years in
(48:33):
prison for violating Indonesia'spornography law.
Speaker 10 (48:38):
India's transgender women are legally entitled to
recognition as women.
This according to a landmarkruling issued by the Andhra
Pradesh High Court.
India's transgender women arelegally entitled to recognition
as women.
This according to a landmarkruling issued by the Andhra
Pradesh High Court.
In his June 16th decision,Justice Venkata Jyothirma
(49:00):
Pratapah rejected the argumentthat only women who can bear
children qualify as women.
He wrote that previous courtrulings showed that prohibiting
trans women's rights to identifyas women amounted to
discrimination.
Pokala Shabana brought the caseto the High Court in 2022.
She was seeking protection fromher abusive in-laws under a
section of the Indian Penal Code.
Her husband's parents foughther on the grounds that, as a
(49:21):
trans woman, she was not coveredby laws forbidding cruelty
against a woman by a husband orrelatives.
The court's decision to upholdShabana's legal standing as a
woman establishes a precedentfor similar cases in the future.
It ensures that trans women canaccess the same critical
protections against domesticabuse available to cisgender
(49:42):
women.
However, Shabana lost her casedue to lack of evidence of the
abuse.
Speaker 11 (49:49):
The US Supreme Court capped its current session on
June 27th with two cases thatrevolve around conservative
religious beliefs.
One allows parents to shieldtheir public school children
from LGBTQ-inclusive materialthat does not align with their
faiths.
The other requires healthinsurance companies to pay for
certain types of preventive care, including HIV-blocking
(50:12):
medications like PrEP.
The first ruling is in Mahmoodv Taylor, montgomery County.
Public Schools in Maryland hadinitially allowed parents to opt
their children out whenLGBTQ-themed books were made
available in classrooms inOctober 2022.
That process became excessivelycumbersome to administer and
(50:34):
there were also concerns thatthe policy potentially violated
anti-discrimination laws.
When school officials ended theopt-outs in 2023, devout
Christian and Muslim parentsthen sued to have them
reinstated.
The high court took their side.
Far-right Justice Samuel Alitowrote in the 6-3 majority's
(50:54):
opinion we have long recognizedthe rights of parents to direct
the religious upbringing oftheir children and we have held
that those rights are violatedby government policies that
substantially interfere with thereligious development of
children.
There was strong dissent fromthe court's three progressive
justices Sonia Sotomayor, elenaKagan and Katonji Brown.
(51:16):
Jackson Sotomayor's scathingminority opinion warned that the
ruling threatens the veryessence of public education.
She wrote decision guts ourfree exercise precedent and
(51:40):
strikes at the core premise ofpublic schools, that children
may come together to learn notthe teachings of a particular
faith, but a range of conceptsand views that reflect our
entire society.
The reverberations of thecourt's error will be felt, I
fear, for generations.
Speaker 10 (52:00):
The second directly LGBTQ-related end-of-term
Supreme Court ruling was in thecase of Kennedy v Braidwood.
It upholds key provisions ofthe Affordable Care Act that
require private health insurancecompanies to cover preventive
care such as cancer screenings,vaccines and the pre-exposure
prophylaxis medication known asPrEP, which greatly reduces the
(52:22):
risk of transmitting HIV-AIDS.
The plaintiffs cited theirreligious beliefs, claiming that
coverage for PrEP encouragesand facilitates homosexual
behavior.
Trump-appointed Justice BrettKavanaugh wrote the opinion for
the 6-3 majority.
Kavanaugh was joined by thecourt's three progressive
(52:42):
justices Sotomayor, kagan andBrown-Jackson, chief Justice
John Roberts and ConservativeJustice Amy Coney.
Barrett, gay CongressionalEquity Caucus Chair, mark Takano
praised the ruling, sayingafter several terrible
anti-LGBTQI plus rulings, theSupreme Court today got at least
(53:04):
one thing right, and bothLGBTQI plus peoples and the
wider public's health will besafer because of it.
The Supreme Court furtherrocked the nation with a ruling
that could assist Trump's effortto suspend birthright
citizenship.
Finally.
Speaker 8 (53:28):
I, I wanna be in the room where it happens, the room
where it happens, citizenship.
Speaker 11 (53:33):
Finally, a group of queer-supportive US senators
organized a defiant GuerrillaTheater Pride Month concert at
the John F Kennedy Center forthe Performing Arts.
Guerrilla Theater Pride Monthconcert at the John F Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts.
The event trolled PresidentDonald Trump's efforts to ban
drag and suppress queerness atthe venerable Washington DC
showplace.
Many artists have declined toperform at the center since the
(53:54):
Trump takeover and subscriptionsales for the coming season are
down by more than 35 percent.
However, on June 23rd, a144-seat lecture hall in the
building featured out-Broadwayperformers and fierce ally and
creator of the highly acclaimedmusical Hamilton, lin-manuel
Miranda.
(54:15):
The DC Gay Men's Chorus Prideconcert at the center had been
canceled, but on this eveningthey shared the stage with famed
playwrights Tony Kushner andHarvey Fierstein.
Colorado Senator JohnHickenlooper spearheaded the
evening's entertainment, joinedby out Wisconsin Senator Tammy
Baldwin and a few other Senatecolleagues.
(54:35):
In the words of co-conspiratorand Hamilton producer Jeffrey
Seller, this is our way ofreoccupying the Kennedy Center.
This is a form of saying we arehere, we exist and you can't
ignore us.
This is a protest and apolitical act.
Speaker 10 (54:53):
That's News Wrap, global queer news with attitude
for the week ending June 28th2025.
Follow the news in your areaand around the world.
An informed community is astrong community.
Speaker 11 (55:05):
News Wrap is written by Greg Gordon and Lucia
Chappell, produced by BrianDeShazer and brought to you by
you.
Speaker 10 (55:13):
Thank you.
Keep us in ears around theworld at thiswayoutorg, where
you can also read the text ofthis newscast and much more.
For this Way Out.
I'm Melanie Keller Stay healthy.
And I'm Natalie.
Speaker 8 (55:25):
Munoz, stay safe, we're here and the colors of the
rainbow Surround you near.
Oh, they will never win thisfight, cause we're stronger than
we've ever been before.
(55:45):
Oh, sending prayers of love,proud of who we are we stand
united.
We stand united, sendingprayers of hope Stronger than
(56:12):
what they know.
Speaker 7 (56:12):
We stand united.
We stand united when we standtogether.
There's nothing we can'tachieve, no matter your race or
creed.
We just gotta believe we areall survivors.
We just gotta keep riding.
They try to take our pride, butwe just gotta keep fighting.
The time is right now.
No more talking about it.
We more than justchoreographers, stylists and
makeup artists.
We are sons and daughters,rappers, doctors and lawyers,
(56:35):
and when we stand together,we'll be victorious.
Standing friends of love.
Speaker 8 (56:40):
Proud of who we are.
We stand united.
We stand united, standingfriends of love.
Speaker 1 (56:56):
This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston
and as a podcast available fromseveral podcasting sources.
Check our webpageQueerVoicesorg for more
information.
Queer Voices executive produceris Brian Levinka.
Debra Moncrief-Bell isco-producer, brett Cullum and
(57:20):
David Mendoza-Druzman arecontributors.
The News Wrap segment is partof another podcast called this
Way Out, which is produced inLos Angeles.
Speaker 9 (57:31):
Some of the material in this program has been edited
to improve clarity and runtime.
This program does not endorseany political views or animal
species.
Views, opinions andendorsements are those of the
participants and theorganizations they represent.
In case of death, pleasediscontinue use and discard
remaining products.
Speaker 1 (57:43):
For Queer Voices.
I'm Glenn Holt, Thank you.
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